Forde: Hot Seats in Lincoln

[Mavric]

Quote

Start at Nebraska, where Mike Riley (1) is entering the danger zone – and bringing athletic director Shawn Eichorst (2) with him. Riley has started his third year 1-2, following a shaky victory over Arkansas State with a loss at Oregon and then a dreadful performance in a home loss to Northern Illinois on Saturday. There was a time when losing to NIU was no shame, but that time has passed – the Huskies came to Lincoln having lost 11 of their last 17 games. They also came to Lincoln without their starting quarterback, who was out with an injury.

 

But Northern Illinois returned two interceptions of Tanner Lee for touchdowns in the first quarter, pieced together one long scoring drive and then sealed the game with a third interception of Lee. After four games of surrendering 36 points or more, dating back to last year, it was time for the Nebraska offense to fall apart.

 

That loss drops Riley’s winning percentage at Nebraska to .552 (16-13), which lags far behind fired predecessor Bo Pelini (.713) and is right in line with the regrettable Bill Callahan (.551). Which should make Eichorst more than a little squeamish, since he went Lone Ranger to hire Riley away from Oregon State in 2014 – an outside-the-box move that was a personality upgrade from sourpuss Pelini but a competitive downgrade thus far.

 

The Omaha World-Herald reported last week that Riley was given a one-year contract extension through 2020 last winter – something the school had kept under wraps for whatever reason. Now the talk will be more about buyouts than extensions.

 

Yahoo

[Jeremy]

Right in line with Bill flippin Callahan. Ugh.

[TGHusker]

Poor decisions are made in a rush or under panic/duress.  Steve Peterson was 40+ days into his job search when he panicked and hired BC.  Peterson's first panic was his firing of Solich.  Perhaps setting the stage for no established coach to want the job after seeing the firing of a 9-3 coach who was just a couple years removed from a NC game.

Next we have SE who hired MR in a rush, acting solo as the all knowing AD who didn't need any help in selecting the new coach.  He is getting paid back for his arrogance.  However in both cases the regents and top admin did not protect the Nebraska brand by having such hands off approach.  Yes the AD's role is to hire coaches but NU football is the cash cow of the Univ system.  If apathy sets in and the stadium ends up wt only 60k fans in it (think it can't happen??  It happened at OU during the 1990s) then the cash cow dries up and that affects the whole university and not just football.

[CharBroiled]

Eichorst should be worried. He married himself to Riley and the Riley experiment is quickly turning into the Riley fiasco.

[Fru]

18 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

Poor decisions are made in a rush or under panic/duress.  Steve Peterson was 40+ days into his job search when he panicked and hired BC.  Peterson's first panic was his firing of Solich.  Perhaps setting the stage for no established coach to want the job after seeing the firing of a 9-3 coach who was just a couple years removed from a NC game.

Next we have SE who hired MR in a rush, acting solo as the all knowing AD who didn't need any help in selecting the new coach.  He is getting paid back for his arrogance.  However in both cases the regents and top admin did not protect the Nebraska brand by having such hands off approach.  Yes the AD's role is to hire coaches but NU football is the cash cow of the Univ system.  If apathy sets in and the stadium ends up wt only 60k fans in it (think it can't happen??  It happened at OU during the 1990s) then the cash cow dries up and that affects the whole university and not just football.

 

I recall an interview with Perlman where he stated Pederson had an NFL "Wow" hire in the wings, but backed out at the last minute. Not sure how truthful that was, but it certainly seems a plausible explanation for a search that took over a month. Riley was hired in what... 7 or 8 days? Regardless, I think you're dead on with NU becoming a "Thanks, but no thanks" school in the coaching world. 

[BoNeyard]

I NEVER thought I would EVER say this in my life, but Riley has opened my eyes that I took Callahan for granted. Looking back, I would take Callahan over this. That is unbelievable. Callahan is a blip in Nebraska football history, a 4 year span which is some of the programs darkest. It wasn't too long ago that no one spoke of the guys name. Looking at it now given with what we are dealing with, Callahan was a better coach.

 

Riley most certainly is an upgrade in personality then Pelini, and he is a personality upgrade from Callahan. But his style of play simply does not work. I don't even know if the guy turns it around and wins 8 games that I would want him back for next year, because we all know he isn't improving the program beyond 9 wins and he isn't winning divisional titles.

 

[Fru]

4 minutes ago, BoneyardHusker said:

I NEVER thought I would EVER say this in my life, but Riley has opened my eyes that I took Callahan for granted. Looking back, I would take Callahan over this. That is unbelievable. Callahan is a blip in Nebraska football history, a 4 year span which is some of the programs darkest. It wasn't too long ago that no one spoke of the guys name. Looking at it now given with what we are dealing with, Callahan was a better coach.

 

Riley most certainly is an upgrade in personality then Pelini, and he is a personality upgrade from Callahan. But his style of play simply does not work. I don't even know if the guy turns it around and wins 8 games that I would want him back for next year, because we all know he isn't improving the program beyond 9 wins and he isn't winning divisional titles.

 

 

FWIW, Callahan did get a fair amount of talent here. I think he'd have been a serviceable coordinator. 

[BoNeyard]

Just now, Fru said:

 

FWIW, Callahan did get a fair amount of talent here. I think he'd have been a serviceable coordinator. 

Yes he did, and some his highly touted recruits amounted to something here.

1 minute ago, unlfan said:

 

To some degree this is putting lipstick on a pig, but Callahan was no doubt better than Riley. At least Callahan's offenses were potent. There is an argument to be made that, if Callahan was able to find a defense, he could have taken us places. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I could hear it out.

 

Mike Riley is pathetic in all facets of the game.

 

Even if he was successful I think he would have bailed to a bigger gig. I don't think his personality fit with Nebraska and if I remember correctly he wasn't the most likeable guy since he basically isolated the program from the fans.

[teachercd]

I still think SE will not make it through the season.

 

 

[BoNeyard]

Just now, teachercd said:

I still think SE will not make it through the season.

 

 

If he does there is zero hope for 2018 being a successful year.

 

A new AD can bring in a new football coach and a new basketball coach. Not bad that a new AD gets a chance to bring in two new coaches to two big time sports.

[Roll Skers]

7 minutes ago, BoneyardHusker said:

If he does there is zero hope for 2018 being a successful year.

 

A new AD can bring in a new football coach and a new basketball coach. Not bad that a new AD gets a chance to bring in two new coaches to two big time sports.

In his interview he threw the team and hcmr under the bus. He needs to go now!

[khaake]

I am old enough to remember losing to Iowa State multiples times in the past under Osborne where we were highly rated and expected to cruise. I get the distinct feeling that many of you would have been calling for his head.

This was week three. The defense appears to be improving (cautiously optimistic there). The o-line is very questionable and played an awful game against NIU. Lee appears to be a head-case at this point who is playing well below the ability he has shown in practice. If the o-line play last week proves to be an ongoing issue, it is time to get rid of Cav. No questions there. If Lee cannot get to a comfortable place in games, bench him. But do not make a rash judgement on the entire program.

[minor edit]

[Igetbored216]

5 minutes ago, khaake said:

I am old enough to remember losing to Iowa State multiples times in the past under Osborne where we were highly rated and expected to cruise. I get the distinct feeling that many of you would have been calling for his head.

This was week three. The defense appears to be improving (cautiously optimistic there). The o-line is very questionable and played an awful game against NIU. Lee appears to be a head-case at this point who is playing well below the ability he has shown in practice. If the o-line play last week proves to be an ongoing issue, it is time to get rid of Cav. No questions there. If Lee cannot get to a comfortable place in games, bench him. But do not make a rash judgement on the entire program.

[minor edit]

The third week of Riley's third year. His first year was horrible, his second year ended horrible, and his third year is starting horrible. Do you see a trend? 

[Hunter94]

there is no comparison between Os and Riley.......none, zero!

[CharBroiled]

6 minutes ago, khaake said:

This was week three. The defense appears to be improving (cautiously optimistic there). The o-line is very questionable and played an awful game against NIU. Lee appears to be a head-case at this point who is playing well below the ability he has shown in practice. If the o-line play last week proves to be an ongoing issue, it is time to get rid of Cav. No questions there. If Lee cannot get to a comfortable place in games, bench him. But do not make a rash judgement on the entire program.
 

Except it's week three of Year 3. The fans were told "oh, just wait to see what happens when we have a system guy for our system."  Well there is a system guy in there and to put it bluntly:

S***'s Broken.

It's not a rash judgement. It's a constant watching of the program's decline while glaring issues continually get overlooked. It's 50 passes a game when preaching balance. It's YOLO bombs for everyone. It's DBs playing 10 yards off the man when teams are bubble screening and smoke routing the defense to death. It's not making adjustments until halftime. It's watching constant special teams gaffes.

S***'s Broken.